research-article

Open government and e-government: democratic challenges from a public value perspective

Authors:

Teresa M. Harrison,

Santiago Guerrero,

G. Brian Burke,

Anthony Cresswell,

Natalie Helbig,

Jana Hrdinová,

Theresa PardoAuthors Info & Claims

dg.o '11: Proceedings of the 12th Annual International Digital Government Research Conference: Digital Government Innovation in Challenging Times

Pages 245 - 253

https://doi.org/10.1145/2037556.2037597

Published: 12 June 2011 Publication History

Abstract

We consider open government (OG) within the context of e-government and its broader implications for the future of public administration. We argue that the current US Administration's Open Government Initiative blurs traditional distinctions between e-democracy and e-government by incorporating historically democratic practices, now enabled by emerging technology, within administrative agencies. We consider how transparency, participation, and collaboration function as democratic practices in administrative agencies, suggesting that these processes are instrumental attributes of administrative action and decision making, rather than the objective of administrative action, as they appear to be currently treated. We propose alternatively that planning and assessing OG be addressed within a "public value" framework. The creation of public value is the goal of public organizations; through public value, public organizations meet the needs and wishes of the public with respect to substantive benefits as well as the intrinsic value of better government. We extend this view to OG by using the framework as a way to describe the value produced when interaction between government and citizens becomes more transparent, participative, and collaborative, i.e., more democratic.

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Index Terms

Open government and e-government: democratic challenges from a public value perspective
1. Applied computing
  1. Law, social and behavioral sciences
2. General and reference
  1. Cross-computing tools and techniques

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dg.o '11: Proceedings of the 12th Annual International Digital Government Research Conference: Digital Government Innovation in Challenging Times

June 2011

398 pages

ISBN:9781450307628

DOI:10.1145/2037556

Conference Chairs:
John Bertot
University of Maryland
,
Karine Nahon
University of Washington
,
Program Chairs:
Soon Ae Chun
City University of New York
,
Luis Luna-Reyes
Universidad de las Americas, Puebla
,
Vijay Atluri
Rutgers University

Copyright © 2011 ACM.

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Published: 12 June 2011

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dg.o '11: The 12th Annual International Conference of Digital Government Research

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Uddin N(2024)City Readiness for Smart City in South AsiaSustainable Smart Cities and the Future of Urban Development10.4018/979-8-3693-6740-7.ch004(91-112)Online publication date: 15-Nov-2024
https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-6740-7.ch004
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